Horror Movie Set: This extra is too good at playing the tricks.

Chapter 26: Everything is normal, except that I'm about to die.

The crowd was like a silent, dark river, carrying the five people toward the building that stood in the deepest part of the night.

The dormitory building at Chengde High School is an even more oppressive behemoth, a six-story concrete box bisected by an invisible dividing line—pink curtains hang on the left, which is the girls' dormitory; the gray iron railings on the right are the boys' dormitory.

The streetlights at the gate seemed to be dying, flickering intermittently, illuminating the old man guarding the gate.

The old man, wearing a faded military overcoat, sat in a bamboo rattan chair, twirling two walnuts that had long since developed a patina in his hands. The "crackling" sound was particularly jarring in the deathly still night.

"The dormitory manager is nice."

The student at the front of the line bowed mechanically, his voice sounding like it was coming from a tape recorder.

The old man didn't look up; his eyelids drooped. The walnut spun around once—that was the signal to let it pass.

The students walked in stiffly, like wind-up toys.

The group moved quickly until Su Ke and Li Mu reached the edge of the circle of light.

As if a switch had been flipped, the two of them suddenly stiffened, their mouths involuntarily twitching open, and a chilling smile reappeared on their faces.

"Oh no, they're rejoining the team!"

Lin Xiaoxiao's heart tightened. Before she could come up with a solution, her body reacted faster than her brain. She grabbed Su Ke's arm and forcibly interrupted Su Ke's standard bowing gesture.

On the other side, Bao Ping quickly covered Li Mu's mouth with his large hand as he was about to open it.

"Sir, please."

Bao Ping forced a fawning smile and half-dragged, half-carried Li Mu to the old man's side: "These two students are having some trouble. The head of student affairs gave us special permission to provide intensive counseling, in case something happens this late at night. Would you do us a favor?"

The old man stopped playing with the walnuts. He slowly raised his head, revealing a face as dry as tree bark, with deep-set eyes. His cloudy eyes swirled around in their sockets several times before finally focusing on Lin Xiaoxiao and Bao Ping.

Their gazes, like two cold snakes, licked over the two of them.

"Tutoring..." The old man's voice was dry and unpleasant. "These students nowadays are so fussy. Don't make too much noise and wake others up, or you'll lose points."

Lin Xiaoxiao breathed a sigh of relief and was about to take a step when Zhang Kai, who had been keeping his head down, was stopped behind her.

"Wait." The old man suddenly stretched out his withered hand and blocked Zhang Kai's path. His nose twitched like a dog's, as if he had caught something unusual. "Why do you smell so strange, kid?"

The old man squinted, staring intently at Zhang Kai's school uniform, so dirty it was unrecognizable: "Which class are you in? I've never seen you before?"

Zhang Kai's whole body stiffened.

In order to survive in the Otherworld, he had long since transformed himself into a wild man, making him a completely different species from these glamorous "good students".

"Grandpa, he..." Lin Xiaoxiao's mind raced.

"He got this from fighting," Bao Ping suddenly interjected, his tone indignant. "Look how dirty he is, he just loves fighting. Isn't this exactly the kind of place we're taking him in for a thorough self-examination?"

The old man looked Zhang Kai up and down suspiciously: "Bullying a classmate? The way he looks at me makes me think he's a bully."

The old man snorted coldly and started turning the walnut in his hand again: "Go in, but don't let me catch you causing trouble in there, or I'll throw you into the septic tank in the back."

Zhang Kai shivered, lowered his head, and quickly slipped into the dormitory.

......

The effects of potent adrenaline wear off faster than the tide rises, leaving only exhaustion and excruciating pain from overexertion.

Lu Dan now lay on the overgrown cement ground in front of the dormitory building, like a pile of mud run over by a truck.

His left arm was completely limp, apparently broken, with bone fragments likely pricking a nerve, causing his vision to blur with every movement. His chest was even more painful; his breath was laced with blood, and the broken ribs seemed to be provoking his lungs.

He smiled bitterly to himself, but could only spit out bloody saliva.

With great difficulty, he used his intact right hand to pull out the patrol log, which was already soaked with blood and sweat, from his pocket.

If someone saw this at that moment, they would definitely be moved to tears by this dedication—even on the verge of death, he still didn't forget to write his work log.

But there's no way around it; these are the rules. Security guards have to patrol and keep records, otherwise, even before the injury manifests, the rules will eliminate him first.

He used his teeth to open the pen cap, lay down on the ground, and by the moonlight, with trembling hands, wrote crookedly on the paper: [At the dormitory entrance, everything is normal.]

After writing the last period, Lu Dan seemed to have used up the last of his strength; his hand went limp, and the pen rolled to the side.

"Normal... my ass!"

He looked at the deathly silent dormitory building before him.

Without lights, each window resembled a festering sore on the beast's body, oozing black mist. Countless twisted shadows swayed behind the windows, clinging to the window frames, greedily eyeing the fresh prey below.

Lu Dan gritted his teeth, used his right hand to support himself on the ground, and slowly lifted himself up.

His left leg was also injured, and taking a step felt like walking on a knife's edge, but he had to go in.

The "roommate" in the shadows seemed to sense the host's weakness. Perhaps fearing that Lu Dan would really die, it quieted down and sent out a wisp of cold resentment to entwine around Lu Dan's broken left arm and ribs, temporarily numbing the pain.

Thanks.

Lu Dan, dragging his crippled leg, stumbled and shuffled into the group of shadowy figures loitering at the entrance, before finally entering the dormitory building.

......

Lin Xiaoxiao noticed that the paper in her pocket was slightly warm.

She took it out by the dim light of the hallway and saw a line of extremely messy, almost illegible handwriting: [Dormitory entrance, everything is normal.]

Although it was so ugly it looked like it was written with a foot, and it even had a few dark red fingerprints, at least it was passed down.

"call……"

Lin Xiaoxiao breathed a sigh of relief: "The security guards don't seem to be under as much psychological pressure anymore."

If Lu Dan could hear this, he would probably be so angry he'd fly to the heavens.

"It's good that you're alright. An uncle is an uncle." Zhang Kai looked at him with blind admiration.

They were now standing in the lobby on the first floor, with two staircases on either side leading to the girls' dormitory and the boys' dormitory respectively, separated by an iron fence with a huge lock hanging on it.

"Let's split up." Lin Xiaoxiao glanced at Su Ke and Li Mu, who were completely in a daze.

Li Mu was hurrying toward the boys' staircase on the right. Bao Ping tried to pull him back, but found that the boy was incredibly strong and he couldn't pull him back at all.

Bao Ping said anxiously, "Teacher Lin, I can only go and check Li Mu's dormitory first."

"Okay, Master Bao, be quick-witted. If anything happens, make a big commotion during the inspection." Lin Xiaoxiao made a quick decision. "Zhang Kai and I will go with Su Ke to the girls' dormitory to provide psychological counseling."

"Ah, I'm going to the girls' dormitory too." Zhang Kai pointed to his nose, his face slightly red. "This...isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

"What time is it?" Lin Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at him. "Don't even think about escaping. After I finish counseling Su Ke, I still have to do a self-criticism session with you."

Zhang Kai glanced at Li Mu, who had a blank stare, and then at Su Ke, whose expression was stiff, and decisively chose the latter.

"I did it to protect Su Ke!"

They split into two groups.

Bao Ping had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow Li Mu into the stairwell on the right. Lin Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, pulled Su Ke and led Zhang Kai to the left.

Su Ke's dormitory is 304.

The corridor was eerily quiet, with both dormitory doors tightly shut. The observation windows on the doors were pitch black, and occasionally one could sense gazes peering out from within.

Reaching the door of 304, Su Ke slowly took out her key from her pocket and clicked open the door.

This is a standard four-person dormitory room. But strangely, only one bed is covered with bedding; the other three bed boards are bare and piled with clutter and dust.

"Does she live alone?" Zhang Kai muttered to himself.

Su Ke walked into the room, went straight to the made-up bed, took off her shoes, got into bed, covered herself with the blanket, closed her eyes, and the movements were fluid and seamless. Then... she stopped moving.

"She's asleep already?" Zhang Kai stared in disbelief, reaching out to wake her.

"Don't move." Lin Xiaoxiao stopped him and looked around.

Although Su Ke lives alone in this dormitory, the walls are covered with all sorts of sticky notes.

She leaned closer and took a look, and immediately felt a chill run down her spine.

Each sticky note was covered with densely written words in red pen:

"I want to laugh."

"The person in the mirror isn't me, but I must be it."

On the wall next to Su Ke's pillow was the largest piece of paper, with only six characters on it, repeatedly traced in black until the ink penetrated the paper:

"Who is it? Who am I?"